Naby Laye Keïta (born 10 February 1995) is a Guinean professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a

central midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for club

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

and the Guinea national team. Keïta began his professional career with

Ligue 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by Balkrishna Industries, is a French professional football league. The league serves as the second division of French football and is one of two divisions ...

club

FC Istres Football Club Istres Ouest Provence (; commonly referred to as simply Istres) is a French association football club based in Istres. The club was formed in 1920 and currently play their home matches at the Stade Parsemain in Fos-sur-Mer, a com ...

in 2013, and a year later he moved to Red Bull Salzburg, where he won the

Austrian Football Bundesliga The Austrian Football Bundesliga (german: Österreichische Fußball-Bundesliga, italic=no , "Austrian Football Federal League"), also known as Admiral Bundesliga for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Austrian football league system. Th ...

and

Austrian Cup The Austrian Cup (german: ÖFB-Cup), known as UNIQA ÖFB Cup for sponsorship purposes, is an annual football competition held by the Austrian Football Association, the ÖFB. During the 2008–09 season, Austria Wien won the tournament for 27th t ...

double A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another. Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to: Film and television * Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character * Th ...

in both of his seasons. He then moved to

RB Leipzig RasenBallsport Leipzig e.V. (), commonly known as RB Leipzig, and colloquially referred to as Red Bull Leipzig, is a German professional football club based in Leipzig, Saxony. The club was founded in 2009 by the initiative of the company Red Bu ...

in 2016, making the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

team of the season in his first year and the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

squad of the season in his second. He agreed to join Liverpool in 2017, and completed the move a year later, winning the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

in his first season at the club, and the

FIFA Club World Cup The FIFA Club World Cup is an international men's association football competition organised by the ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The competition was first contested in 200 ...

and

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

the following season. Keïta made his senior international debut for Guinea in 2012. He has earned over 40

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

and was part of their squad at the

Africa Cup of Nations The Africa Cup of Nations referred to as AFCON (french: Coupe d'Afrique des Nations, sometimes referred to as CAN, or TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons), and sometimes as African Cup of Nations, is the main internati ...

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

and

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

Early life

Naby Laye Keïta was born on 10 February 1995 in

Conakry Conakry (; ; sus, Kɔnakiri; N’ko: ߞߐߣߊߞߙߌ߫, Fula: ''Konaakiri'' 𞤑𞤮𞤲𞤢𞥄𞤳𞤭𞤪𞤭) is the capital and largest city of Guinea. A port city, it serves as the economic, financial and cultural centre of Guinea. Its p ...

Club career

FC Istres

Keïta joined hometown club

Horoya AC Horoya Athletic Club, also known as Horoya Conakry or H.A.C., is a Guinean football club based in Conakry, Guinea. The club plays in the Ligue 1 Pro, the top tier in the Guinean football league system. It was founded in 1975. History In 2014, t ...

aged nine. He moved to France in 2012, joining the youth team of

after unsuccessful trials at

FC Lorient Football Club Lorient Bretagne Sud (; commonly referred to FC Lorient or simply Lorient) is a French association football club based in Lorient, Brittany. The club was founded in 1926 and currently competes in Ligue 1, the top flight of French ...

and

Le Mans FC Le Mans Football Club (; commonly referred to as Le Mans FC, formerly referred as Le Muc) is a French association football club based in Le Mans. The club was founded in 1985 as a result of a merger under the name Le Mans Union Club 72. In 2010 ...

. In 2013, he was promoted to the first team of Istres. He made his

debut on 22 November 2013 against

Nîmes Olympique Nîmes Olympique (commonly referred to as simply Nîmes) is a French association football club based in Nîmes. The club was founded on 10 April 1937 and currently plays in Ligue 2, the second level of French football. Until November 2022, t ...

. He scored 11 goals in 23 games in his first season as a professional, while his team were relegated to the

Championnat National The Championnat de France National ( en, French National Championship), commonly referred to as simply National or Division 3, serves as the third division of the French football league system behind Ligue 1 and Ligue 2. Contested by 18 clubs, t ...

Red Bull Salzburg

In 2014, he joined Austrian top division side Red Bull Salzburg. He made his league debut on 26 July 2014 against

Wiener Neustadt Wiener Neustadt (; ; Central Bavarian: ''Weana Neistod'') is a city located south of Vienna, in the state of Lower Austria, in northeast Austria. It is a self-governed city and the seat of the district administration of Wiener Neustadt-Land Distr ...

. Keïta ended the season with five goals and two assists in 30 games, winning the league and cup double. The following season, he was selected as the Austrian Bundesliga Player of the Year.

RB Leipzig

In June 2016, Keïta moved to Red Bull Salzburg sister-club

, who had just been promoted to the German

. He scored the winner on his league debut against

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, commonly known as Borussia Dortmund (), BVB (), or simply Dortmund (), is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its men's professional footb ...

and scored seven more goals in his debut Bundesliga season. He was named in the league's team of the season. Keïta was named in the squad of the season for the

2017–18 UEFA Europa League The 2017–18 UEFA Europa League was the 47th season of Europe's secondary club association football, football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 9th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. The 2018 UEFA Europ ...

, in which his team were quarter-finalists.

Liverpool

2017–18 season

On 28 August 2017, a deal was struck for Keïta to join

on 1 July 2018 after the English club triggered his £48 million release clause in addition to paying an undisclosed premium. It was then reported that there would be no premium (£48 million total) if Leipzig did not qualify for European football, £4.75 million (£52.75 million total) if they qualified for the

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

and £11 million (£59 million total) if they finished in the Champions League spots. Leipzig ultimately finished 6th in the Bundesliga, therefore qualifying for the Europa League.

2018–19 season

Upon joining Liverpool, he was handed the number 8 shirt by

legend,

Steven Gerrard Steven George Gerrard (born 30 May 1980) is an English professional football manager and former player, who most recently managed club Aston Villa. Described by pundits and fellow professionals as one of his generation's greatest players, Ge ...

, which had been vacated upon the departure of Gerrard to

LA Galaxy LA Galaxy, also known as the Los Angeles Galaxy, are an American professional soccer club based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Galaxy competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), as a member of the Western Conference. The club began pl ...

in 2015. Keïta made his debut for Liverpool against

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

on 12 August 2018 and played a part in the opening goal for

Mohamed Salah Mohamed Salah Hamed Mahrous Ghaly ( ar, محمد صلاح حامد محروس غالي, ; born 15 June 1992), also known as Mo Salah, is an Egyptian professional footballer who plays as a forward for club Liverpool and captains the Egypt na ...

in a 4–0 win. On 5 April 2019, Keïta scored his first goal for Liverpool in a 3–1 win against

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

, and added a first European goal four days later against

FC Porto Futebol Clube do Porto, MHIH, OM (), commonly known as FC Porto or simply Porto, is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Porto. It is best known for the professional football team playing in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portu ...

in the

quarter-final first leg. He was injured in May 2019, ruling him out for the rest of the season. Although Keïta was injured, he won his first Liverpool title while out of the matchday squad as his team mates secured the win in the

Champions League final The UEFA Champions League is a seasonal football competition established in 1955. Prior to the 1992–93 season, the tournament was named the European Cup. The UEFA Champions League is open to the league champions of all UEFA (Union of European ...

against

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

in early June. Këita started in the Carabao Cup final for Liveprool after

Thiago Thiago is the Portuguese equivalent of the names Jacob and James. It is the archaic spelling of the name Tiago, presently mostly used in Brazil; in Portugal, the modern spelling largely prevails. * Thiago (footballer, born September 1988), full n ...

sustained an injury in warm up.

2019–20 season

FC Salzburg gegen Liverpool FC (UEFA Champions League 10

Hampered by injury, Keïta was a fringe player during the early part of the subsequent season. On 7 December, he provided a goal and assist in a 3–0 win away against

AFC Bournemouth AFC Bournemouth () is a professional association football club based in Kings Park, Boscombe, a suburb of Bournemouth, Dorset, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest division of English club football. Formed in 1899 as B ...

, a game which marked his first league start of the season. On 10 December, he provided Liverpool's first goal in a 2–0 Champions League win against his former club, Salzburg, which saw the reigning European champions progress to the knockout stages as the victors of

Group E Group E may refer to: * E-Group: E-Groups are unique architectural complexes found among a number of ancient Maya settlements * Group E (vase painting) Group E (or E Group) was a group of Attic vase painters of the black-figure style. They were a ...

. On 18 December, he scored the opening goal in a 2–1 win over Mexican club

Monterrey Monterrey ( , ) is the capital and largest city of the northeastern state of Nuevo León, Mexico, and the third largest city in Mexico behind Guadalajara and Mexico City. Located at the foothills of the Sierra Madre Oriental, the city is anchor ...

as Liverpool progressed to the Club World Cup final; three days later, on 21 December, he started in the final against

Flamengo Clube de Regatas do Flamengo (; English: ''Flamengo Rowing Club''), more commonly referred to as simply Flamengo, is a Brazilian sports club based in Rio de Janeiro, in the neighborhood of Gávea, best known for their professional football t ...

, playing 100 minutes until being substituted as Liverpool won 1–0 to be crowned world club champions. On 2 January 2020, he was named in the starting line-up against Sheffield United, but was withdrawn after sustaining a groin injury during the warm-up, being replaced by James Milner. At the end of the season, Keïta won the Premier League title with Liverpool.

International career

On 14 December 2012, Keïta made his international debut for the Guinea national team against

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierra ...

in a

2014 African Nations Championship qualification The qualification phase for the 2014 African Nations Championship was played from November 2012 to August 2013. Qualification was divided into the CAF Regional Zones. Each zone had either two or three teams that qualified for the final tournament ...

match. He scored the opener for his side in a 1–1 away draw. Keïta was included in Michel Dussuyer's 23-man squad for the

2015 Africa Cup of Nations The 2015 Africa Cup of Nations, known as the Orange Africa Cup of Nations, Equatorial Guinea 2015 for sponsorship reasons, was the 30th staging of the Africa Cup of Nations, the international men's football championship of Africa. It was orga ...

in Equatorial Guinea. In the opening match against the

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is ...

, he was struck in the face by

Gervinho Gervais Yao Kouassi (born 27 May 1987), known as Gervinho, is an Ivorian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Greek Super League club Aris and the Ivory Coast national team. Gervinho began his career at ASEC Abidjan and Toumodi ...

, who was red carded for it. On 12 November 2015, Keïta scored his first international goal in three years, in a 1–0 away win against

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

in the first leg of the second round of

2018 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification process was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations to decide 31 of the 32 teams which would play in the 2018 FIFA World Cup, with Russia qualifying automatically as hosts. All 210 ...

. Three days later in the return leg – in Morocco due to the

Ebola virus epidemic in Guinea An epidemic of Ebola virus disease in Guinea from 2013 to 2016 represents the first ever outbreak of Ebola in a West African country. Previous outbreaks have been confined to several countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. The epidemic, which began ...

– he scored again in a 2–0 win. Manager

Paul Put Paul Put (born 26 May 1956) is a Belgian football coach who manages Congo. Career Put was manager of the Gambian national team between 2008 and 2011, before being appointed as manager of Burkina Faso in March 2012. He had previously managed Be ...

chose Keïta for the

2019 Africa Cup of Nations The 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (abbreviated as AFCON 2019 or CAN 2019), known as the Total 2019 Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 32nd edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial international men's football champion ...

in Egypt, where he was affected by injuries. In January 2022, Keïta helped Guinea qualify for the round of 16 of the

2021 Africa Cup of Nations The 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (also referred to as AFCON 2021 or CAN 2021), known as the TotalEnergies 2021 Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 33rd edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial international men's foo ...

in Cameroon. His performances saw him earn a place in the tournament's best eleven of the group stage. However, Guinea were eliminated after a loss to

Gambia The Gambia,, ff, Gammbi, ar, غامبيا officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa. It is the smallest country within mainland AfricaHoare, Ben. (2002) ''The Kingfisher A-Z Encyclopedia'', Kingfisher Publicatio ...

, a match Keïta could not play due to yellow cards accumulation.

Style of play

While writing for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', Nick Ames and Nick Miller described Keïta as "a dynamic,

box-to-box A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

central midfielder," likening him to

N'Golo Kanté N'Golo Kanté (born 29 March 1991) is a French professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for club Chelsea and the France national team. Considered by many to be one of the world's best midfielders, Kanté is widely praised ...

. They also noted, however, that he is able to distribute the ball with range and accuracy, and score goals, which has instead frequently led him to be compared to Brazilian-Portuguese former

playmaker In association football, a playmaker is a player who controls the flow of the team's play, and is often involved in offensively and defensively playing passing moves which lead to goals, through their vision, technique, ball control, creativit ...

Deco Anderson Luís de Souza (born 27 August 1977), known as Deco (), is a retired professional footballer who primarily played as an attacking or central midfielder. Born and raised in Brazil, he acquired Portuguese citizenship and played for Po ...

. David Usher of

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

has described Keïta as an energetic

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

, with good defensive qualities, which also allows him to play in a holding role if necessary. Usher went on to note that Keïta is "quick, skillful, creative and direct. He can

dribble In sports, dribbling is maneuvering a ball by one player while moving in a given direction, avoiding defenders' attempts to intercept the ball. A successful dribble will bring the ball past defenders legally and create opportunities to score. A ...

, pass and shoot, and he frequently makes the spectacular look routine".

Ralf Rangnick Ralf Rangnick (; born 29 June 1958) is a German professional football coach, executive and former player who is currently the manager of the Austria national team. Rangnick began his coaching career in 1983, succeeding his career as a player, a ...

attributes him having a natural 360° radar.

Personal life

Keïta has a younger brother, Petit Keïta, who was previously on the books with German side

Inter Leipzig Inter Leipzig is a German association football club located in Leipzig, Saxony. Their first team competes in the NOFV-Oberliga, the fifth tier of German football. History According to the Inter Leipzig mission statement, the club claims to becom ...

. In October 2018 it was reported that he had been training at Liverpool's Academy, although he was not offered a contract. In 2017, Keïta was charged with uttering false documents. The German newspaper ''

Bild ''Bild'' (or ''Bild-Zeitung'', ; ) is a German tabloid newspaper published by Axel Springer SE. The paper is published from Monday to Saturday; on Sundays, its sister paper ''Bild am Sonntag'' ("''Bild on Sunday''") is published instead, which ...

'' reported that, in early December 2016 and again six weeks later, he had presented two fake Guinean driving licences in order to obtain a driving licence in Germany. The district court in Leipzig ''(Amtsgericht Leipzig)'' fined him €415,000, basing the sentence on Keïta's estimated annual income of around €3 million. Keïta's lawyer filed an appeal. The appeals court reduced the fine to €250,000. In September 2021, Keïta, his Guinean teammates and their opponents from

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...

were stranded during the

2021 Guinean coup d'état On 5 September 2021, President of Guinea Alpha Condé was captured by the country's armed forces in a coup d'état after gunfire in the capital, Conakry. Special forces commander Mamady Doumbouya released a broadcast on state television announ ...

. All returned home safely.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Guinea score listed first, score column indicates score after each Keïta goal''

Honours

Red Bull Salzburg *

Austrian Bundesliga The Austrian Football Bundesliga (german: Österreichische Fußball-Bundesliga, italic=no , "Austrian Football Federal League"), also known as Admiral Bundesliga for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Austrian football league system. Th ...

: 2014–15, 2015–16 *

: 2014–15, 2015–16 Liverpool *

: 2019–20 *

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

: 2021–22 *

EFL Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the ...

: 2021–22 *

FA Community Shield The Football Association Community Shield (formerly the Charity Shield) is English football's annual match contested at Wembley Stadium between the champions of the previous Premier League season and the holders of the FA Cup. If the Premier Le ...

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

: 2018–19; runner-up: 2021–22 *

Individual *Footballer of the Year in Guinea: 2015, 2021 *Austrian Football Bundesliga Player of the Year: 2015–16 *

Team of the Season: 2016–17 *

Squad of the Season: 2017–18 *

CAF Team of the Year The CAF Team of the Year is an annual football award given by the Confederation of African Football during the CAF Awards. In 2007, the CAF did not choose the team of the year, but rather the best ten players of the last fifty years. The ten playe ...

: 2018

References

External links

Profile
at the Liverpool F.C. website * {{DEFAULTSORT:Keita, Naby 1995 births Living people Sportspeople from Conakry Guinean footballers Association football midfielders Horoya AC players FC Istres players FC Red Bull Salzburg players RB Leipzig players Liverpool F.C. players Ligue 2 players Austrian Football Bundesliga players Bundesliga players Premier League players FA Cup Final players UEFA Champions League winning players Guinea international footballers 2015 Africa Cup of Nations players 2019 Africa Cup of Nations players 2021 Africa Cup of Nations players Guinean expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in France Expatriate footballers in Austria Expatriate footballers in Germany Expatriate footballers in England Guinean expatriate sportspeople in France Guinean expatriate sportspeople in Austria Guinean expatriate sportspeople in Germany Guinean expatriate sportspeople in England